Aoyama

Chapter 199 Death with a Rod
Chen Liqin's fingers trembled slightly under his sleeves.

His son finally came home, but was placed among the sundries. How could he not know that there was something fishy going on? How could he not be angry?

However, now that things have come to this, there is no benefit in spreading the matter.

As the saying goes, family disgrace should not be made public. If others knew about this, it would only make the scholars laugh. As for Chen Ji, he could only find a way to make amends later, but he couldn't make it public at the moment.

Outside Tingquan Garden, Chen Liqin looked at the bricks and tiles in the yard. After thinking for a moment, he ordered the servant: "Bring the housekeeper here. I want to ask him what happened. He could have misheard such a small matter! Madam clearly arranged Mingquan Garden for Chen Ji, why did she bring Chen Ji to Tingquan Garden?"

"Yes," the servant looked nervous, lowered his head and walked away.

Zhang Xia felt something was wrong, and hurriedly tugged at Zhang Zhuo's sleeve, lowering his voice and saying, "Dad, be careful that he might tip off someone and collude with others to cover up the matter."

Zhang Zhuo stroked his beard and shouted, "That boy, come back!"

The servant was stunned for a moment: "What do you want, Master Zhang?"

"Wait here for a while," Zhang Zhuo looked at Zhang Xia, "Girl, go find a servant and ask the housekeeper to come over."

Zhang Xia agreed and ran very fast.

Chen Liqin glared at him: "Master Zhang, what are you doing?"

Zhang Zhuo said nonchalantly, "Master Chen, you know whether the housekeeper heard it wrong or not. Chen Ji, were you present when Madam Chen arranged your accommodation? If you were, can you tell me where she arranged it for you? Don't be afraid, I'll make the decision for you."

Chen Liqin suddenly clenched his fists in his sleeves.

At this time, Zhang Zhuo saw that Chen Ji did not answer, so he asked again: "Chen Ji, did you hear it clearly? Where did Mrs. Chen talk about?"

Chen Ji whispered, "It's Mingquanyuan."

Chen Liqin felt relieved. It was commendable that a seventeen-year-old child could consider the overall situation.

When Zhang Zhuo heard Chen Ji's words, he had a tacit understanding in his heart: Chen Ji had just returned home, and this time he only wanted to kill the housekeeper, and had no intention of igniting the war with Liang.

But Zhang Zhuo changed his mind and insisted, "Don't be afraid, Chen Ji. If you have any grievances, just tell me. I will take care of it for you. At worst, we won't go back to the Chen Mansion. Don't worry, I guarantee that you will be better off than Zhang Zheng in terms of food, clothing and other expenses. The house he lives in now will be vacated for you tonight!"

Chen Liqin said impatiently: "Master Zhang, don't you have a son of your own? Why do you always care about other people's sons? What does Zhang Zheng think when he hears these words?"

Zhang Zheng said cheerfully, "I don't mind. If Chen Ji is willing to come tonight, I will move to another courtyard tonight... I can even sleep on the street."

Chen Liqin's tone stagnated: "You!"

At this time, Zhang Xia led the housekeeper and hurried over with their heads bent down.

The housekeeper came in front of everyone, first looked at Chen Ji, then looked at the open door of Tingquan Garden, and immediately realized that the truth had been revealed.

He lifted up his coat and knelt down, kowtowed and said, "Master, this is all my fault. Please punish me!"

Chen Liqin was so disappointed: "You can make such a small mistake, how can I let you manage the Chen Mansion? Madam clearly arranged for Chen Ji..."

"Wait!" Zhang Zhuo grabbed Chen Liqin's wrist and interrupted him. He looked down at the butler's back and asked with a smile, "Let me ask you, why didn't you let Chen Ji live in Mingquan Garden in your Chen Mansion, but chose to give Chen Ji this Tingquan Garden filled with miscellaneous items?"

Chen Liqin's face changed. Zhang Zhuo actually wanted to extract a confession from him in Chen's house.

He was about to say something when Zhang Zhuo's palms suddenly clenched so tightly that it hurt him.

Liang, who was standing by, wanted to open her mouth to remind the housekeeper, but Zhang Xia suddenly looked at her and said, "Aunt, you look so beautiful today."

Liang was slightly startled, and subconsciously said: "Thank you, Miss Zhang Er..."

Before he finished speaking, the butler had already replied, "Your Excellency the Prefect, because Tingquan Garden is close to the eldest and second young masters, I arranged for the third young master to stay here."

Zhang Zhuo narrowed his eyes slightly and figured out what he had done, but he didn't expect that the housekeeper would take all the blame on himself without any collusion.

Chen Liqin was furious: "Zhang Zhuo, what do you want to do? Do you think my Chen Mansion is a government office? You are actually doing this to induce a confession."

Zhang Zhuo brushed his robe and sighed slightly: "Sir Chen, if the right and wrong of your family still have to be judged by me as the prefect, don't you feel sad?"

Chen Liqin stood there in a daze.

Zhang Zhuo ignored him and looked down at the housekeeper: "I want to ask you, who instructed you to do this?"

The housekeeper had already reacted and gritted his teeth and said, "Master Zhang has misunderstood. No one instructed me to do this. I did it out of good intentions and wanted the Third Young Master to get closer to the First and Second Young Masters."

Zhang Zhuo asked again: "If that's the case, then why didn't you arrange for servants to clean up after you brought Chen Ji here?"

The butler hesitated: "This..."

Zhang Zhuo said no more, turned around, grabbed Chen Ji's wrist and walked out the door: "Come on, follow me back to Zhang Mansion, don't be wronged here! Even a servant in his Chen Mansion can cover the sky with one hand and bully the superiors. Today I arrange a miscellaneous courtyard for you, and who knows what you will do tomorrow!"

Chen Liqin hurriedly took two quick steps, trying to grab Chen Ji's other arm. But before he reached him, Chen Ji had already broken free from Zhang Zhu's hand: "Master Zhang, I won't go to the Zhang Mansion."

Zhang Zhuo looked back in confusion: "Huh?"

Chen Ji said calmly: "Master Zhang, it would be nice to have a place to live."

Chen Liqin slowly stopped and felt a sore nose.

He glanced at Liang coldly, then turned to look at the housekeeper viciously, and ordered the servant beside him: "Drag the housekeeper away... and beat him to death!"

The housekeeper panicked.

His body began to tremble like a sieve, and sweat soaked his back: "Master, I am innocent..."

Liang grabbed Chen Liqin and interrupted him: "Master, Wang Gui's mother is your wet nurse. You said before that you would visit her after returning to Beijing. If you beat Wang Gui to death, how can you see her in the future?"

Chen Liqin remained silent.

Liang pulled Chen Liqin aside and pleaded, "I know the master is angry. Wang Gui can be spared the death penalty, but he cannot escape the punishment of life. First, take him down and give him 20 strokes of the cane, and then fine him for three years. I, as the mistress of the house, am also at fault. I will go to the Buddhist temple later and chant sutras in front of the Buddha for three days and three nights to repent and reflect on my own mistakes."

Zhang Zhuo and Zhang Xia looked at each other. This punishment was not light. Liang was tantamount to tearing off her own face to save the housekeeper. The housekeeper was beaten with the stick twenty times. Even if he didn't die, he would be skinned.

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With Liang acting like this, the butler will definitely not be able to kill her today.

Zhang Zhuo glanced at Chen Ji and made up his mind. He stepped forward and grabbed Chen Liqin: "Even if Wang Gui is your servant, there is no need to fight and kill him. I think your suggestion is good. The country has its own laws and the family has its own rules. If such a servant appears in the family, the mistress of the house should naturally reflect on it. But, after Wang Gui recovers from his injury, he will not continue to be the housekeeper, right?"

Chen Liqin said expressionlessly: "Of course not."

Zhang Zhuo sighed, "I wanted to snatch Chen Ji away, but I didn't expect that he had such deep feelings for the Chen family. Forget it, I can't be the bad guy anymore."

Chen Liqin stared at him intently: "When Lord Zhang came, he caused chaos in my Chen Mansion, but now he wants to be a good person?"

Zhang Zhuo laughed: "Master Chen misunderstood me, misunderstanding, all misunderstanding!"

At this time, Wang Gui was relieved to see that he had escaped the disaster: there are skills in caning, and those servants would not be too harsh, otherwise, with his relationship with the master and the wet nurse, he would turn the tables and deal with them sooner or later.

Wang Gui thought about this and kowtowed three times on the ground, making loud noises and shedding tears: "I feel so ashamed of my mistake, sir. I will go down and accept the punishment myself."

However, just as he finished speaking, he heard footsteps from behind.

Chen Wenzong came running with a whistle in his hand. He came to Chen Liqin and bowed, saying, "Father, what happened here?"

Chen Liqin casually explained: "This Wang Gui has lost his mind. He arranged your brother to live in this compound and deliberately did not send servants to clean up the compound for him. Now that the truth has been found out, he is going to punish him with twenty strokes of the cane."

Chen Wenzong turned to look at Wang Gui who was kneeling on the ground, his eyes turned colder: "I'll do it."

Wang Gui’s body softened.

……

……

Evening, sunset.

After Wang Gui was beaten with the stick twenty times, he was carried to his residence by servants while still dying.

After Chen Wenzong had been beaten with the stick twenty times, his arms, which had not been exercised for a long time, began to swell and ache.

By the eleventh stroke, Chen Wenzong was so tired that he had to rest for a while before continuing. After the twentieth stroke, Wang Gui's back and buttocks were already covered in flesh and blood.

This was the second time he had been punished for Chen Ji in the past two months. He didn't know what bad luck had come upon him. The bastard, whom he used to control at will, was now out of his control.

Was today's incident a coincidence, or was it a careful calculation by that bastard? It must be a calculation, there wouldn't be so many coincidences!

The servants carried him across the yard and pushed open the wooden door of the residence.

A servant whispered, "Godfather, it's not that we don't want to help you, it's just that the eldest master was too ruthless and we couldn't stop him."

Wang Gui said with a grim expression: "Shut up! Don't think I don't know, you all want to see me make a fool of myself!"

The servant curled his lips and said nothing more. Everyone worked together to lay the butler on the bed.

Just as they were about to turn around and leave, they saw the butler suddenly jumped up and shouted: "Pooh, pooh, pooh, what is on my pillow?"

When the servants looked closely, they saw that the butler's face and mouth were covered with black feces, which smelled terrible.

Wang Gui screamed like crazy, hysterically: "Who did it? Who of you did this?"

(End of this chapter)